One Hundred One-Shot Challenge
by Ellie and Joel-The Last of Us
Summary: I'm taking Prin Pardus's One Hundred One-Shot Challenge
1. Injured

_Taking Prin Pardus's One Shot Challenge. Wish me luck, if you have any. _

Injured

"Your sin. Deception. There is no trust from you." He growls, his eyes gleaming and his lips sinking back to display his many jagged teeth.

I had been caught with the other cats, the cats they had schemed to kill for quite a while. For this, as I had known for so long, they would have my gut or something worse. I remember Angie's last stand with the leader. She had been slacking, fallen in love with the enemy, like me, and was sentenced to death. The other cats had jeered- obviously wanting a harsher punishment. I had watched in frozen astonishment as they proceeded to rip at her stomach. They didn't even flinch, the heartless beasts. And now it was my turn.

"W-what are you going to do to me?" I tremble. I can't ever remember trembling like I am now. My heart is literally vibrating and my paws are frozen to the spot, my weak knees threatening to buckle beneath me.

"What do you think? So you never sneak off to the other side again, perhaps we should take away the tools you need to go there?" His frosty stare is focused on my paws. "P-please, no." I whimper. "But then you will sustain your treachery. We all know why you've been going there. There's a certain worshipper for you, eh?" He sneers. My eye lids are peeled back wide now, they feel like popping my eyes out their sockets. "He did nothing!"

"So there is a lover involved in this nasty web of yours…" His sneer widens and his eyes look as dead as ever. "No!" I shot back, although I was already loosing this battle from the start. "What should we do with her, Lucifer?" He turns his boulder-like head to a small, wispy white she-cat at his side. I shut my eyes and hear "Poison her?" Over the murmur of suggestions from across the room.

I timidly see the labyrinth of his mind conjugating horrid plans to execute me. The cool, bitter air of the night sweeps into the cave and that insane adrenaline interfered with my plot and told me to run. Run. Run even if you will not succeed. And die trying? He'd do something twice as harsh to me if I were to run. No, better stay put. That's when Machiavelli grunts in a undertone. "Kill." I shoot him a look that I hoped would forever rot in his mind.

One of terror, as still as if preserved in glass, and one that would somehow change his path. This was all in blind optimism though. He exchanges it with a sly grin and I break eye contact. Mach would never be innocent again. But it seemed he didn't give a damn if he wouldn't anyway.

"Something _painful, _Mach. Not something as forgiving, humble as death." Snaps the commander. "I'll do it then." Lucifer snarls, striding forward to where I stood and unsheathing her claws before me. My fur bristles and my tail lashes. "Hold her down." The she-cat adds to Mach, noting my disobedience. He grabs me neck while standing behind me and forces me down. He shoves me to the ground by my throat and puts a cumbersome paw on it, threatening to step on me if I made a move. Lucy grins and sets to work. And slowly, I felt something popping out of its place and fire was burning my paws.

Too hot, too hot! I had to stop touching the fire, but it wouldn't yield to my suffering. It kept wrenching the claw out of my paw and smiling happily as I gave grunts and sighs. The cats around us were cheering, some were so close I could feel their dry breath on my face. I looked down at Lucifer, although my shock would then kick in and I would start to tremble again.

She was pulling my claws out with her teeth. I took my other paw and slashed at her cheek. She withdrew with a emphatic hiss and I started to suffocate under Mach's pressure to my neck. "Stop. St-op." I choke, swearing I could hear something crack and split below my jaw.

He takes him time to lift his paw before Lucifer continues her ritual, making excessive purring noises as she rips the rest of the claws from my right paw out. I give little moans of distress after she was done, but couldn't allow myself to make any physical contact with her.

"Good?" I hear a small thud next to me and turn my head slightly to see something bloody and sharp next to me. My last claw.

"No. Like _this._" I turn my head again and the leader is towering over me, staring into my eyes. "You like your eyes, don't you?" I could already see where this was going. If I said no, he would know I was lying. If I said yes, he was going to rip out my eyes anyway. I shut my eyelids over them, pleading with who ever had the force to stop him up there to stop him.

My beautiful, jade green eyes that I treasured beyond anything.

"You don't like them?" He asked. I shook my head. "Oh, so you do?" He chuckles. _Think warm thoughts. I don't want to him to be the last thing I see. Think of Lawrence. Think of him. _

An object sharper than the pine needles fresh from the tree hit me the face. Something longer than pine needles clawed into my eye, scraping my eye socket. I could _hear _the blood leaving them. I struggled not to move them as they were stolen from me. _Please. Please. Please. _

Mach's laugh was ringing in my ears, even as my life was draining. What was he gaining from this? My death? Why did he want my death? Did he have a secret vendetta against me? I realized that they all did. They all wanted me to suffer.

I woke up- I actually woke up, one morning. I opening my eye lids and stared into darkness, but I could _feel _the sunlight on my stomach and I wanted to let out a cry. I wanted to scream until the birds flew away and everyone could hear. But he, Mach, and Lucifer could still be around. I got to my paws, and my right paw refused to touch the ground. I was limping. A buzzing was coming to my ears, and the numbness from my eyes was fading.

I shut my eyelids, but it did them no good to close over a hollow socket. I had lost them. They were gone. And yes, curiosity does kill a cat. Because I began to wonder-what had happened to them? The most gut wrenching things came to mind and didn't want to see them anymore. Lucy's screechy laugh and Mach's guffaws were back in my head.

I thought of Lawrence. Oh how I hated him now. He said he had cared for me, how he would protect me. _Is this what you call protecting, Lawrence? She is dying, and you think this is acceptable? Those long black nights when no stars would show, and we were alone in your cave and you gave me your promise? If I had sight one last time, I would murder you, Lawrence. _

My mother use to talk of the injustice of the world when we were kits. How even the sweetest, kindest things in life will die in such a merciless way. Such as the flowers from the green leaf, how they were bloom in their glory and die by freezing in nature's game.

Those things, those many things taken for granted, would mean so much more when they were gone. I understood, but this wasn't the way I wanted to understand it.

I let my frustration come through. It was too much for a cat to hold in.

I screamed, and wailed, and let out a caterwaul unlike anything I had ever heard. I could not believe that had come from me. Was this what all cats sounded like when they were in so much pain, agony? That they could not recognize their own, sad voices? My scream would last eternally if I had been provided with that gift. But I drew breath, and the silence returned. I spun around and slammed my skull into a tree, and it throbbed.

I didn't care if the gang heard me and killed me. At least I'd be dead then. At least I wouldn't be living in this unbelievable hell where I could barely hear, could never see again, and wouldn't have to suffer the consequences of my actions. But don't we all?

I was the worst example, I feared, of being a jigsaw puzzle. And the pieces were missing and gone for quite some time now. And my fighting soul was trapped within this body, and I was…. Injured.


	2. Sinking

Sinking

Two harmless, guiltless kits were playing along the RiverClan Camp border. It was a breezy night, and the wind fluttered softly through their fur, causing unsymmetrical ruffles along their scruffy fur. It just so happened that they were siblings. And as we all (most of us) know how competitive and rambunctious siblings can get, Ivykit and Aspenkit were barely reaching the limit with their so called "fierce fighter" games.

It soon calmed down to some plain old teasing, and Aspenkit was a master at such.

"I bet you can't run to that cattail." He grinned.

"Bet I can!" She mewed defiantly, scrambling over to it and sitting down with a triumphant smile. "Haha. Did it!"

The moon floated hazily above the duo, as they romped and frolicked about.

"Fine, but that was _easy._" Aspenkit sneered. He never missed a chance to remind his sister just how quick he was, or better than her, at least.

"Was not!"

"Yeah it was!"

"You can't even run to it!"

"Watch me!"

The small brown tom hurried over to her and leaped at Ivykit, knocking her backwards. "Ivykit!" He mewed in panic, as the she-kit flailed a little, off balance, and tumbled into the raging ravine of river and stone.

She was almost frozen for that one second as she quavered on the edge, and her coordination wasn't quite right, sending her down, down, down. Aspenkit gaped, one paw outstretched in a hope to save his sister before he got into trouble. Now he had just escalated from trouble to death.

The tiny kitten's mouth was still open as she plunged into the icy cold of the river and water and mud flooded her mouth as she sunk to the bottom, thrash as she might. In horror, she opened her eyes.

If it were not for the suffocating force on his nose and mouth, and the water gushing into her throat that made it difficult to breathe, and how cold the water was to her paws that it stung the flesh, she would have been able to admire the way how timeless and iridescent the water seemed, the moon reflected many times in its many folds.

_I can't breathe. I'm going to die! But I thought life was fair for us! StarClan, don't let me die! _She was paddling with her little paws to reach back to the surface, and for once, they seemed to be obeying her. She was getting closer until she broke the surface and spluttered and spat and gave long coughs of freedom.

_Someone, save me! _But no one came to salvage the kit. It seemed she was long forgotten. But where was Aspenkit? She thought he was there with her. Bobbing up and down and still nowhere near the edge of the stream's border, her paws were getting heavy.

And her head, barely raised above the tide, was whipped ruthlessly by the wind her face. She shut her eyes and prayed to StarClan that someone would find her. But no deity would listen. No voice should then be heard. There was something bright that she could see from behind her eyelids. She opened them and then shut them as something powerfully bright blinded her for a moment. She cautiously saw it again, and she shivered from the combined fright and cold.

A tide swept over her and shoved her below the barrier again. She still had her eyes open even as breathe was robbed from her. The silver outline and nothing more of a cat was gliding toward her with ease, nearing the river but not falling into it. Ivykit stared through its translucent body. She seemed to be frozen, even though in the back of her mind, her brain was pleading with her to give it air.

_Berrypaw? _Those shimmering, dull gray eyes were similar to her mother's. Even when in mortal peril, her brain was able to function and recognize things. And she had always talked of Berrypaw, the apprentice who had fallen into the-

She gasped, and hacked violently on the water. The nefarious force had tricked her again, and had shoved yet another mouthful of water down her waterlogged throat. _Please save me. Don't let me die. _

Yes. It was her. She was pulling her up by her drenched neck and bringing her to leveled ground, and she could feel the soft leaves of grass beneath her paws.

It took minutes for her to empty the water from her stomach. And it took several more minutes for her to be able to breathe properly.

Ivykit opened her eyes and the unfamiliar territory bedazzled her. It was full of streaming rivers, and tall, tall trees like the one in Thunder Clan camp, and she could see rabbits running across a wild moor a few yards away. She turned towards Berrypaw's mirage and realized that she could now see the silver tabby she-cat. Ivykit turned her head back to the open space.

"Aspenkit?" She mewed in a hoarse whisper. Berrypaw cast an empathetic glance toward the kit. "Where are we? What part of camp is this?" Demanded Ivykit as she regained her voice. Now she was mimicking Berrypaw's clouded face. What? She couldn't be?

"I'm dead…Aren't I?" She whispered. Berrypaw stared at the young kit in sorrow and utter pain. "Yes." She bit her lip. "You're in StarClan, honey."

Ivykit glared. "No I'm not! You're lying! You're probably-probably taking me hostage because I'm so valuable. Aren't you that cat that Aspenkit's friend told me about? Blue what's-you're-name!" She started. She promptly refused to acknowledge the loss of her body. She was now just a soul, in her own mind.

"I'm not." Replied the she-cat, losing her patience. "Look, you're in StarClan. And no one can hurt you."

"But I don't want to be here! Come on! Give me a chance! It wasn't my fault!" She wailed. "I can't change the past, no matter how influential I may seem." Berrypaw murmured. It was all gone. Aspenkit, her mother, her loving friends, her loving _clan. _And whose fault was it?

Certainly not Aspenkit's. Even a kit knew not to pin a death on someone like that. He was probably broken hearted right now. Had they even found her body yet? Ivykit shuddered. "Can I see them from here? My family?"

"Sure you can. Gaze deep." Instructed Berrypaw. Even as she spoke though, a rage built in her stomach and clung to her throat, threatening to overwhelm her and spew itself out. How could a kit have died? How could StarClan have allowed that? She had heard of the three kits that had been allowed to drown in a river themselves, but her mother had admonished her repeatedly when she had brought up the subject, and slowly egged her on to believe it as nothing more than a myth.

But Ivykit was evidence of the injustice if StarClan.

Ivykit shivered and the she-cat curled her tail around her to share her warmth. "My mother. She's upset." Spat Ivykit bitterly. "Of course, she loved you very much." Ivykit stiffened a sob. "Doesn't she still love me?"

"Yes. You're right. She will always love you, even in StarClan." Berrypaw continued in dulcet tones. Ivykit reminisced her past moons with Aspenkit. She would have become an apprentice later this moon. Ivypaw. She gave a tiny smile and a nod. Aspenkit would be okay. He had good friends. And even though she wouldn't be there for his apprenticeship, somewhere, she knew that she was watching him from above.

She looked down at the river that she had fallen into. She never wanted to relive that horrid experience. When she couldn't find the land beneath her paws, and her throat was caught, and she was trapped under an invisible wall. Her heart was thudding, but she couldn't hear it. She had gone deaf, and waterlogged, and the moon was calling to her, being such a wicked fool because it was oblivious to the fact that she was drowning.

What was that called? When you were falling down in an unknown force and you couldn't get back up? She turned to ask Berrypaw, but the she-cat was staring up at the glassy stars above, her eyes reflecting that she was deep in thought.

Oh well, she'd just have to think of it herself. A heavenly music streamed through her ears, and she tried hard to focus on what that word was. Why couldn't she think of it! Ivykit lashed her tail in complete frustration.

She sat up and got to her paws, mumbling things and knocking anything in her way to one side. A harmless pebble lay in front of her and she tossed it into a small puddle. It gave a small splash. Alarmed, she turned her head and watched it as he sank to the bottom of the shallow water.

That was it. When she had fallen in, she had sank. She never wanted to experience…. Sinking.

**Finished my one-shot. Oh, this is so bad. Why am I bothering to publish this. :/**


	3. Father

Father

_Winter comes, and winter goes_

_Your voice remains my ever-soul_

_I see the dead, they speak your name_

_But I have put your life to shame_

I wake up before the sun, and as always, it is dark. Throughout the shifting gloom, I notice a tranquil form resting, it's aristocratical head facing the horizon. I stumble to my paws, because I know this figure very well. He is my father. The only signal he gives that he hears me coming is the twitch of an ear. I admire his pose, and how still as a statue he is. "Good morning." He rumbles. "Morning!" I return in a squeak. "Where are you going today, papa?"

"Out to the bay. Do you want to come?" He asks. I nod my head vigorously. He gets to his paws, and the large gray tom strode forward to greet the new day. I wonder what plans he has, if he'll let me try and catch something by the water. I'm still very small, only a kit, so my paws are small and short and the only things I can catch are leaves in the wind or grass on the ground.

The stream is bubbling with activity, as I would soon see, and the fish streams were dense. I could see them twisting away to avoid becoming captives to my father's skilled paws. But my father was a fisher by heart and blood. He knew how to grab the tiniest of mackerels, and the biggest of trout.

His dark amber eyes peered into the shallow depth, scrutinizing the many particles issued from the gilled swimmers.

"Do you just-" "Sh."

I gave a grunt of disappointment that I wasn't allowed to verbalize. Who wants to go on a mute trip? Well, I certainly don't.

But my frustration gave way as a shimmering, scaled creature surfaced to try and eat the bubbles above the water then dove back.

Quicker than a fox, my father struck out his paw and knocked the fish to one side, and lobbed it over the banks. I stared at the poor beast. It was gulping for air, it couldn't get any. It's tiny fins were rotating uselessly at its side as it struggled to save its life. At this, my father bent his head down to bite it. It stopped moving after a while, and I wriggled with disgust.

"Why do we have to catch fish, dad?" I whined. "Hmm, I don't know, maybe because we're RiverClan warriors?" He chuckled at his poorly made joke. As we set back to camp, I noted that most of the slumbering clan was now waking. A yakking, miserable heap of brown and black fur came rolling toward us and I winced as one of his uncannily bright yellow eyes twitched every two seconds.

"Nice catch, Embertail." The deputy meowed languidly. "What about me!" I solicitated. He bobbed his head and casually replied. "Yeah, you too." I frowned, and left with Embertail to the fresh kill pile. The soil collecting over the last piece of vole made me sad. No one appeared to want to eat it. But I would eat it. With Spiderkit and Splashkit. Those two would want the vole, however soiled it may have seemed.

After a hasty comment to my father, I sauntered into the Nursery. The warmth and milky scent almost too powerful for me to smell out anything else, I noticed two sleeping kits, their black pelts glittering as if littered with tiny stars.

"Hey! Spiderkit!" I mewed impatiently, poking the great lout with a persistent paw. "That you, Pebblekit?" He growled softly.

"Yeah. And look what I brought you!"

At my jubilant words, Splashkit turned around and whacked me with her tail in her haste. "Calm down!" I had a certain pleasure of being the oldest. I could get the younger ones to do what I wanted them to. "Its for you two to share."

Spiderkit bit into the vole, and didn't seem to notice how gross it seemed, all dead and cold. Splashkit, however, glared at me. "Why didn't you bring anything for the queens?" She mewed. I gave a haughty sigh. "You want me to do everything, don't you."

"Yeah." She swished her tail. "Fine, then I'll get it!" Splashkit grunted, running off to get the biggest piece of fresh kill she could find. She started dragging the fish that my father had caught. "Hey! Let go of that!" I forced her away from my dad's kill. She wasn't worthy to take that huge reward to the queens anyway. Splashkit let out a long bawl, and I was frozen to the spot, knowing what was going to happen next. "Pebblekit!" Embertail was eyeing my suspiciously before turning to the younger kit. "What happened?" He asked gently, wrapping his tail around her as if she were his own.

I was furious. How could he? I was his own kit, and here he was, giving this spoiled brat all the affection! Splashkit proceeded to jumble up the story, saying how I gloated of my newest kill, a vole, and told Spiderkit that he could only have it, and then I was going to eat the fish all by myself, and Splashkit ended up mixing up the story until she was plain out the heroine for trying to stop me.

"I see." His eyes glistened with amusement, but I was done with his ways. Woebegone and tired of being made out as a criminal, I went off to the river to sulk.

A tiny leaf swayed annoyingly in front of my face, so I swatted at it, getting its green blood all over my paws. Why was it always my fault whenever I tried to do something right? Self pity was all I thought of, and nothing of how Splashkit might have felt, being so naïve.

A heavy thud of paws landed beside me. "Why so miserable?" He asked. "Because you're always taking Splashkit or Spiderkit or even Bluekit's side when I get in trouble."

"Well she is younger than you. Don't you think you should be the wiser one and let her have the fresh kill?" He reprimanded. "No. That was your kill! And she'd just waste it trying to eat it!" I hissed.

"Oh, is that so." He pretended to give a huff. "Well, I'd like to show you something." He got up and leaped across the river to unknown territory. He disappeared into a bush and reappeared moments later with a shriveled, ancient stick in his mouth. "Ew, that's gross." Was my first reaction. But he shook his head and put it down.

"Willowleaf and I use to play with this." He explained. "Auntie Willow?" I ejaculated.

"The very same." He nodded. "We would put it on the ground like this." He dropped it. "And then we'd paw at it, and pass it to one another."

"I could find a better game." I said with an unimpressed look. "Like what?" He asked.

"A wad of moss." I crept back down to the riverbank and carefully pealed the moist plant away from the ground, rolling it up with my paws, and then passing it to him. He passed it back, more gently.

It rolled continuously, back and forth, until I hit it too hard and Embertail had to go find where it was, lost in the bushes. He didn't appear for several minutes. _Probably I hit it too hard. And it got lost. _I smirked.

But a loud yowl made me jump a second later. _Trouble. _

I darted into the bushes, my gray pelt camouflaged with the undergrowth. Three enormous cats, one with black dappled spots, another with short reddish fur, and the third a boulder in appearance, were crowded around my father. "You've broken our land." One grunted.

Embertail shot him a look. That's when the red one stepped on something soft and squished it beneath him. _Our moss ball. _

"Dad?" I flinched as a thorn scraped my throat. I revealed my hiding place. Embertail stared at me, angrier than I had ever seen him. "Pebblekit, go back. Now." He hissed. I shook my head. "Now." His eyes were pleading with mine.

I nodded mutely, and backed away, the threesome watching me fall back. "We don't allow trespassers." Nodded one. I was still watching from behind. I couldn't go back, I wanted to see. My conscience was screaming at me for not fetching help. But I wanted to see my dad in action. Surely he knew more battle moves than those three combined.

But he made no sudden movement, no witty escape. He just stood there. "Why don't you just let me go."

There was no answer to this.

"If we try to let you go, you're a liability. You'd tell your clan of us and…"

"The kit!" The dappled she-cat shrieked. She whacked one of the toms with a paw. "We've let her escape." Now I shrunk back into another space, behind the jagged edges of a tree.

I heard my father let out a cry, and I turned my head to see him in a kneeling position, as one of them held his throat. If I went out there to try and save him, they would kill me. My eyes were burning, I couldn't think anymore.

They were killing him. My father.

After a few minutes, I tripped back to camp, and told everyone. Everyone that my father was in trouble, and he needed help. But I lied. Because I knew that was dead.

And up until this very day, I've given you this secret. I, Pebblestream of RiverClan, watched my father die. And this father of mine, he was the best father. And he knew how to cheer me up the way no one else could.


	4. Exploit

Exploit

_Pitter patter… Pitter patter…_

Six pairs of tromping paws were galumphing across the jagged ground, their voices mute and basking in the solitude. They had once again escaped from the SmokeClan camp, and were dancing about in their victory, running as fast as possible.

This was the second time in a week, and Stormkit wanted it to last.

"Can I talk _now_?" Sorrelkit mewed with a confute look on her sprite little face. "Yeah, I guess so." Stormkit nodded. "Why are we going out here again?"

"To have some fun. But if you keep yowling, we're not going to have any."

"Oh hush. I am not talking that loud!" The reddish she-cat blustered. "Are too."

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Are…. Not!" With that, she charged at her older brother and knocked him over, his whole body tumbling a few feet backwards. When he looked up, from where he was positioned, he could see Fogkit looked slowly at him with his pale, glassy eyes. "Get out of my face." Chastised the little kit, mimicking the way some of the apprentices played.

Fogkit glumly sat back. "Why did we bring him anyway?" Sorrelkit asked, more out of interest than from animosity.

"Because he wanted to come. Didn't you, Fogkit?" Stormkit asked his younger brother. Fogkit gave a sharp nod and turned to the left a little. "Where you going!" Called Sorrelkit, watching the grey-furred kit with interest.

"There's a stream here." Was all she could make out from how quickly he was dissipating. With that, the two others followed suit until they reached the small sliver of water in between two banks, that their scatterbrained brother had called a "river".

It was little more impressive than a twig in the mud, but Fogkit was transfixed on the puddle.

"This isn't a river, you mouse brain!" Chirruped Stormkit incredulously. "Of course it isn't. I think we know that already." Replied the she-cat.

She gazed at the picturesque forest before her, an enthralled expression opening across her face. The evergreens drooped solemnly, an ominous voice singing low about them. "Where are we?" She murmured. "Oh no! This must be Gray Owl Spruce that Shimmertail told us about!" The oldest kit said in alarm. "We have to go now!"

Almost all the clan was aware of the Gray Owl Spruce. It had been named that a short while back for the massive owls that lurked. Most did not know if it was one or many, but all they could say was, that if that bird caught you by the neck, and brought you to their nest, you were done for.

However, even as Stormkit and Fogkit made their way quickly as possible through the dense thicket and brush, Sorrelkit was nowhere to be found.

It seemed the bossy she-cat was too dazzled by the forest scene that she had forgotten of the dangers lurking by completely. "_Sorrelkit. _Please, come back!" Squeaked Fogkit, a hint of a plea in his voice. "Look guys. I found a dead sparrow!" Sorrelkit called, her head barely raising above the tall grass as she pointed at the bird with her tail.

She pounced on the already deceased vermin and was half done vivisecting it when Fogkit flinched and whimpered. "Look out!"

A vast-winged, sharp beaked creature with amber orb-like eyes was gliding towards her, and she was crouched, frozen to the spot. The beak opened, producing a loud, screeching sound, and she managed to sink to her stomach, as the vicious talons that could have easily cut her open scraped her back.

Adrenaline pouring through every passage and unknown chamber of her body, she fled, and Fogkit and Stormkit were leading. "Smokystar! Smokystar! Guess what Sorrelkit did!" Were the first words out of their mouths.

Sorrelkit trailed behind last, her tail hanging. "What? And how in StarClan's name did you get out?" Asked Smokestar, his eyes flashing with fear. But he soon saw the little reddish tortoiseshell she-cat come into view, and he sank into a comfortable position.

"Well first, we got out because no one was watching, and then we asked Fernkit if she wanted to come, but she was too _busy _because she doesn't want to get into "trouble"." Stormkit rolled his eyes.

The little girly girl she-cat herself strode out to meet them, a smug look on her placid face. "Told you! I told you not to!" She meowed. Fogkit flinched.

"And, what else?" Smokestar pressed, ignoring the bothersome kit at his side. His sharp eyes steadied themselves Stormkit, who was usually the leader of the ruffians. Stormkit felt himself recoil slightly at the immensity of the paramount. "Well, and then Fogkit saw this river, but it really wasn't a river, and then Sorrelkit ran into the bushes, and she wanted to play with some kind of prey that was already dead. And then a great beast with horns and wings and stuff came down and tried to attack her, and I saved her!" He announced, adding his own version for effect.

"Is that so." The dark gray warrior lifted an eyebrow. Sorrelkit shook his head. "No! You mustn't believe him! He didn't save me! I ducked, and it nearly caught me. Look!" She turned around to show him where the rest of her fur lay uneven. She was unscathed, but still frightened.

"I believe you've learned your lesson then." Smokestar replied, an edge to his deep voice. Sorrelkit nodded vigorously while her brothers gave languid nods of awareness. "And what was the lesson?"

"We should never go out of the camp again. Unless we are apprentices." Recited Sorrelkit woefully. "Good. I expect that you'd like to tell Pheasantflight all about your little misshapen adventure today." Smokestar waved his tail over the two toms while the she-cat made a grimace.

"That's not necessary- " She began, just as Stormkit and Fogkit raced away to the golden furred queen, eager to be the first to recount the story with extra, suspenseful details and hidden drama.

Smokestar gave his mate a good natured smile, which she returned, mouthing the words "Adventurers." With a shake of her head. Her own bundles of joy had not been enough, as Jessie and Eveningclaw tragically died, one from birthing six kits, and the other from a fatal snake bite that even the most skilled medicine cat of all time could not heal.

Of course, to kits, death is a strange phenomenon that shan't be touched on in their little minds. Death is not death, but a land where all the good and happy souls inhabit green fields, and many rabbits. Death meant StarClan. And StarClan meant that their parents would always be watching over them.

Neither Pheasantflight or the rest of the clan had pressed on the matter. They had all agreed that while tragic, the story shouldn't fully be established on the litter until they were old enough to understand death completely. Until then, Pheasantflight and the leader of SmokeClan would be their parents.

Hopefully, Pheasantflight wouldn't be the only queen penned up in the nursery, or she would really need more than four legs and two eyes to keep watch on the total of nine kits.

She managed to bring herself back to the current events while Stormkit reached the climax of the story. "Which was when Sorrelkit tried to duck, failed miserably, and I dove out of the bush, risking my own neck, to save her." He puffed out his chest.

The queen gave him a lick on the head. "Well, you are the little hero." She purred. That was when Fernkit marched in, trying to drag her sister Sorrelkit in by the tail. Being the same size as her sibling, this looked absurd. "Let go of her, Fernkit. You've done your job." Pheasantflight meowed.

"Just serving justice, as always." Squeaked the haughty calico she-kit. It was apparent that while the rest of her siblings were all tomboys or adventurers, Fernkit was usually stuck pestering the warriors and apprentices for tips, peeping into their dens and giving unrest, as she was truly a little girly girl.

At her words, a laugh moved around the circle of kits. Sorrelkit scowled. "I hear you had a good time today." Pheasantflight swept her tail around Sorrelkit. Stormkit gave a loud chortling noise.

"And who said that?" Sorrelkit mewed, her eyes wide and looking at the crowd of kits, who were all, somehow miraculously related to her. "Maybe your brothers." Pheasantflight replied. Stormkit and Fogkit gave her prudent and shrew looks, while they were cracking up behind their disguises.

"Well, I learned a very important lesson today!" Shouted the kit, trying to speak as loud as she could. "And what is that?" The queen queried.

"If you want to have some peace and quiet outside, you have to go by yourself."

**I think I'm done with this one. Exploit, while meaning to reveal someone's hidden secret, can also mean an adventure or an accomplishment. Either way, I had fun with this one. The characters are those from TacoClan. **


End file.
